Our Indigenous Heroes - They Also Served
‘Honour, Recognition and Respect: Lest We Forget’.
These words are written on a banner carried at the Anzac Day March in Redfern and followed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander marchers. It lists the international conflicts in which many have served, reminds us that Indigenous people have a long history of military and civilian service, and demands that this service be recognised after many years of neglect. Following on from the celebration of NAIDOC week this month, our article recognises the role of Indigenous men and women in all conflicts to date.
The most surprising thing in researching this topic has been to realise the willingness of Indigenous people to volunteer to defend a country that had systematically tried to wipe out their people in the early settlers’ grab for land, instituted Aboriginal Protection Acts that controlled every part of their lives, and put legal barriers in place to prevent them joining the services, beginning with The Defence Act of the new commonwealth in 1909.
When the Boer War broke out in 1899, Australia consisted of six separate British colonies, which were under the control of the British Parliament. These governments offered to raise military contingents to support the empire, and many Australians volunteered, including Aboriginal men.
Whilst the exact number is not known, those who did go, either as troopers in militia contingents raised by the States, or trackers, proved their worth as excellent horsemen and trackers.
One such man was Jack Alick Bond, known as John Alick. He was a Yuin man, born in Braidwood, NSW, and the first known Aboriginal serviceman to be awarded a medal for military service in a foreign country. He served as a trooper in South Africa from 1900 to 1901 in the 1st Australian Horse, then in 1902 in the 1st Battalion Commonwealth Horse, until the war ended.
Unfortunately, this did not count for anything when he returned to Australia; he died in 1941 and was buried in an unmarked grave until the National Indigenous Australians Agency contributed to arranging a headstone and plaque to commemorate his service.
Many others returned to the same conditions that they had left, some finding that their children had been removed in their absence. This happened after WWI as well.
The Commonwealth Defence Act of 1909 introduced compulsory military training but exempted men “not substantially of European origin or descent”. Policy detailed in the July military recruiters’ handbook stated that ‘Aborigines and half-castes are not to be enlisted’. This policy was not relaxed until 1917, to allow ‘half-castes’ to enlist if ‘one of their parents is white and of European descent’.
No official reason was given for this policy change. However, the fact that Australia had suffered huge losses in Europe, and the compulsory conscription referendum in October 1916 had been lost, may have been contributing factors. Nevertheless, military records show that large numbers of Aboriginal men did in fact enlist between 1914 and 1916, often by not revealing their heritage, or by moving to areas where they were more accepted. Many recruiting and medical officers at certain locations used their own discretion, perhaps for pragmatic reasons.
As research continues to identify Indigenous servicemen and women, it is known that over 70 men served at Gallipoli. One such man was Richard Kirby from Warren, NSW. After Gallipoli, he went to France, where he was promoted to Lance Corporal and served with distinction. He was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal and received a letter from King George V, one of four Aboriginal men to receive this honour. He was shot in France and died on August 20, 1918.
Despite serving in WW1 alongside their white comrades and experiencing similar conditions with little signs of racism, the same racist attitudes and barriers to enlistment existed for Indigenous Australians when Australia went to war again. Many did enlist in 1939, either in the 2nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force) or the Militia, although in 1940 the Defence Committee decided that such enlistments were “neither necessary nor desirable”.
This attitude changed when the threat of Japan invading the north of Australia became apparent after the bombing of Darwin. Given the nature of the land in the northern part of Australia, and the special skills required to navigate the terrain, military authorities finally accepted the value of raising specialist Indigenous units from the local Aboriginal population, men who had a deep knowledge of their country. Three particular units enabled Indigenous men to gain meaningful employment and develop their skills.
The Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion was raised in March 1943. It was the only Indigenous Australian battalion ever formed by the Australian Army, and its role was to guard the islands of the Torres Strait, which were a strategic point between the Pacific and Indian oceans. However, they only received one-third of the pay of white soldiers and were denied any benefits. They were disbanded in 1946. Eventually, in 1986, they received full back pay for their war service.
The Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit was formed in August 1941 to patrol Arnhem Land. The unit included 50 tribal Aboriginal warriors from Arnhem Land, who were employed for their knowledge of the land, their bush skills, and their traditional fighting skills. Their payment was tobacco rations and fishing and hunting supplies. The unit was disbanded in 1943 when there was no longer a threat of Japanese invasion. They did not receive back pay or medals until 1993.
The 2/1st North Australia Observer Unit (NAOU), known as the ‘Nackeroos’ or ‘Curtin’s Cowboys’, was formed in May 1942. It comprised 550 men and employed more than 50 Aboriginal guides and labourers. Its role was to patrol the northern coast and bush on horseback and in small craft, to man coast-watch stations, and operate a signals network for northern Australia. The unit was disbanded in March 1945. It served as the forerunner for NORFORCE.
However, the majority of Indigenous servicemen joined the AIF, where they fought, were wounded, were taken captive, and died alongside their mates. They fought in all spheres of war and received equal pay. That equality did not extend to life after the war.
Reginald Saunders was a Gunditjmara man born in 1920 in Victoria. He enlisted in the army in 1940 and served with the 2/7th Battalion, where his leadership qualities were soon noticed. In April 1943, he was promoted to Sergeant.
In April 1944, he married Dorothy Banfield, who was serving in the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in November 1944. After being wounded, he returned to Australia and was placed on the Reserve Officers’ list.
At the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, he joined the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment and was promoted to temporary Captain. He was placed in command of ‘C’ Company, which took part in the Battle of Kapyong, for which the battalion was awarded the United States of America’s Distinguished Unit Citation.
On his return to Australia, he reverted to Lieutenant in March 1952 and was put in charge of training recruits and National servicemen. He was not happy in this role and resigned his commission in October 1954. As the first Indigenous Australian to be commissioned in the army, he was instrumental in breaking down racist assumptions about his people.
Despite his service record in the army, however, he still experienced racism and discrimination in civilian life. He was not even able to obtain a Soldier Settlement block.
An article in the Adelaide newspaper “News”, dated 18th November 1950, said,
“Mrs Dorothy Saunders, wife of the first full-blooded aboriginal to receive the King’s Commission, is living with their three baby daughters in one squalid room in North Fitzroy while her husband fights in Korea.
In this room of a condemned house – the only home that a war hero and his family could find in years of searching – the youngest baby has been bitten by a rat, and there are great gaps in the broken, sunken flooring. A patch of wet mud lies at the doorway, where the floor has been worn right away.
Lieut. Reg Saunders, the “real Australian officer”, won his commission and his distinction for his race by AIF service in the Middle East and New Guinea.”
In 1969, he was appointed as a liaison officer in the Office of Aboriginal Affairs and was awarded an MBE (1971) for his work in establishing communications between the government and Indigenous communities. He died in 1990.
Leonard ‘Len’ Waters was Australia’s first Indigenous fighter pilot. A Kamilaroi man, he was born in 1924 and was fascinated by flight from childhood.
Len left school at age 14 and worked as a shearer with his father during the Depression. In 1942, he enlisted in the RAAF as a flight mechanic.
He began training as a fighter pilot in 1943 and over the next year completed intensive training in navigation and other flying skills, firstly at Narrandera and then at No. 5 Service Flying Training School RAAF at Uranquinty, near Wagga Wagga.
In July 1944, he received his RAAF pilot’s wings and was promoted to sergeant. He said that he never experienced any discrimination on the basis of his skin colour.
Len flew 95 missions in his Kittyhawk, aptly named Black Magic, logging 103 flying hours. He was discharged in January 1946 with the rank of Warrant Officer.
Len’s dream of starting a regional airline to connect people in the bush with services and facilities of the city was denied when, after 5 attempts, he was denied a civilian pilot licence because of his Aboriginality.
After years of struggle, he died in August 1993 at Cunnamulla, Queensland. He was honoured with a flyover by 9 RAAF Hornets, flying in formation. In 2023, a Water Tower Mural depicting Len Waters was officially opened at Uranquinty to commemorate Australia’s first and only Aboriginal Fighter Pilot.
Born in 1920, Kathleen Walker, nee Ruska, grew up on North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay. When the Second World War broke out, she joined the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) and trained as a signaller. She said that she joined AWAS because it was a good opportunity for an Aboriginal to further their education. She remained in the AWAS until early January 1944.
After her military service, she began her long career in political activism. She also began to write poetry and, in 1964, became the first published Aboriginal poet in Australia. She adopted her Aboriginal name and became known as Oodgeroo Noonuccal.
She died in 1993 at the age of 72. A trust was established in her honour to carry on the work she had begun towards reconciliation.
At least 80 Indigenous men are believed to have served during the three years of the Korean War. Most did so in the army, although 7 served with the RAN, and one seaman served in Korean waters with HMAS Condomine in 1952–53. Torres Strait Islander Corporal Charles Mene received the Military Medal for operations during 1952. The most prominent Indigenous figure of the Korean War, however, was Reg Saunders, as we have already seen.
There are currently 70 Indigenous servicemen identified as having served during the Malayan Emergency. This number is also expected to continue to rise. Most of these served in the regular army battalions sent on rotational tours from 1955, although there was also an air presence based in Singapore for most of the period of the Emergency.
More than 300 Indigenous men are known to have fought in Vietnam, but current estimates of service are approximately 500, as research continues. More than 225 are from the army; 75 of these served in Vietnam as national servicemen, even though the National Service Act 1964 exempted Indigenous Australians from the requirement to register for this obligation. Although the numbers available for the RAN and RAAF are far from definitive (12 and 5, respectively), they at least confirm a presence.
While the Department of Defence website proclaims that Indigenous personnel served in the full range of overseas deployments undertaken by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) since 1975 (including Somalia, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq, and various peacekeeping operations), no numbers regarding the size of Indigenous participation have yet become available. A growing number of individuals have been identified who served in Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, and Afghanistan, but these at least provide a basis for the claim that, since the 1990s, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have become a welcome and integral part of the modern ADF.
Supporting Department of Defence claims of significant progress in eliminating all forms of discrimination against Indigenous enlistment is the formation during the 1980s of three regional force surveillance units as part of the Army Reserve. These units – NORFORCE (formed in 1981), the Pilbara Regiment (1982), and the 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment (1985) – are all predominantly made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander personnel. The RAN and RAAF are equally committed to maintaining a proportion of their workforce representative of Indigenous numbers in Australian society.
Stan Grant, a proud Wiradjuri man, journalist and author, speaks of two of his ancestors, one a boy who changed his name, lied about his age and went to war. His name was Ivan Grant, and he died in France in WWI. The other is his grandfather Cecil Grant, Ivan’s brother, who served in the Middle East and was a Rat of Tobruk in WWII. Cecil carried the memory of his brother with him and devoted his life to the fight for equality and the right to belong in a country he had served in war.
He tells the story of his grandfather marching with his white comrades on Anzac Day and going back to a pub in Griffith. He was stopped from entering by a local police sergeant who told him he wasn’t allowed in, medals or not. Then his digger mates formed a circle around him and walked him in - in defiance of the police.
Stan Grant article – “On Anzac Day, we need to recognise the role of Aboriginal diggers” – was posted in The Link on 25 April 2017 and updated on 26 April 20 2017.
The common experience of many Indigenous service men and women was the feeling of acceptance and equality while in the services, and the ‘back to usual’ experience of returning to discrimination and inequality. Thankfully, things have improved in the 21st Century. However, it is worth remembering the experiences of those who went before, in the spirit of reconciliation.
So, given the many barriers placed in their way in earlier years, either by Aboriginal Protection Authorities which governed every aspect of their lives, or legislated restrictions, why then did so many Indigenous men and women continue to serve and defend an Australia which did not grant them citizenship until 1948, did not include them in the Census until 1967, did not remove remaining Aboriginal Protection Act provisions until 1969, and did not remove the clause exempting Indigenous men from national service until 1992?
There is no definitive answer to this question; however, perhaps it can best be summed up in this quote from the book ‘Serving Our Country’, page 4.
“Many who served in past conflicts left no record of their motivation. However, it seems reasonable to infer that many wished to exercise their own agency: to better their economic situation, to improve their political status, and to demonstrate their equality with other Australians. But as the oral histories of service personnel and their families testify, many also aspired to serve their ‘country’, a rich and nuanced term which embraces not only the Australian nation, the traditional focus of patriotism and loyalty, but also the land that has remained so central to the livelihood, culture and spirituality of Indigenous communities.”
Phyllis Darragh, Snowy Valleys Heroes Inc
Sources:
Australian War Memorial - Indigenous Service
Deadly Story - ANZAC Day & Aboriginal Service People
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
Anzac Portal - Reginal (Reg) Saunders
Anzac Portal - Leonard (Len) Waters
Australian War Memorial - Kath Walker (Oodgeroo Noonuccal)
Australian War Memorial - The Lovett family
Australian War Memorial - Richard Kirby
‘Serving Our Country', edited by Joan Beaumont & Alison Cadzow, UNS Press 2018
